"Blatta" (somehow related to Portuguese
barata, I suppose) looks like a loan or a late coinage with its b- and double
-tt-. It also means 'moth', AFAIK. Slavic terms for the cockroach are variants
of the same Turkic loanword (tarakan, torokan, karakan, karakon, Polish karaczan
influenced by karacena 'armour' < Latin coriacea, which is also the source of
English cuirass). I think the damn insect was a synanthropic
importation from subtropical countries. Perhaps the IEs didn't know it at all,
the lucky beggars.
Terms like German Küchenschabe
'kitchen-scraper' or Welch chwilen ddu 'black beetle' are modern formations.
English cockroach is an adaptation of
Spanich cucaracha (imitative?). Perhaps French cancrelat is an onomatopoeic echo
of something from the same source, influenced by cancre 'crab'; cf. Dutch
kakkerlak, Polish karaluch ('oriental cockroach'). Phonetic iconicity is
commonplace in names of crawling things.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2001 3:41 PM
Subject: [tied] PIE cockroaches
Is there any PIE word for cockroach?
Let's start the list...
Latin BLATTA
Greek SILPHE:, TILPHE:
English COCKROACH
Germanic ?
Slavic ?
Celtic ?
Sanskrit ?
Avestan ?